24-25 IIAS 69 2.Indd

The Newsletter | No.69 | Autumn 2014 24 | The Focus 798: the re-evaluation of Beijing’s industrial heritage in the IN MANY COUNTRIES OF THIS AREA, industrialisation is still Eff ectively, after a few years of artistic activities, the SSG, As testifi ed by a UNESCO report on the an ongoing process, often the outcome of a colonial domain, a state-owned enterprise, had a plan approved by the city and presents many dark sides, such as pollution, environmental government to turn this area into a “heaven for new technology 1 Asia-Pacifi c region, the preservation of degradation and labour exploitation. Countries that have only and commerce” – the Zhongguacun Electronics Park – by 2005,4 recently achieved a high level of industrialisation, consider it too and to develop the rest of the land into high-rise modern apart- industrial heritage in Asia is still at an early recent to be worth preserving. In fact, the World Heritage List ments.5 This project would refl ect the ‘old glories’ of the factory. counts only two industrial heritage sites in the whole Asia-Pacifi c As a consequence, the owners decided to evict the artists because stage of application, and constitutes a region.3 However, this does not mean that industrial heritage the plans involved destroying the old buildings. Outraged by has been completely disregarded or abandoned in Asia. On the the threats of eviction and joining an emerging social concern controversial topic for many countries contrary, there are several stimulating instances of preservation in China against the demolition of ancient structures disguised of these kinds of structures; among them is a current trend that as urban renewal, the artists, who believed the buildings had an belonging to this region. The report makes falls outside the heritage dominion into the dominion of cultural immense historical and architectural value, started protesting policies and urban redevelopments. The 798 Dashanzi Factory in favour of the preservation of the 798 and the maintenance the comparison with European countries’ in Beijing is among the best examples of this trend. of the artist village as its occupying community. The artist community, which involved local artists but also external activists conservation practices and their relation- Urban redevelopment who protested against the government’s architectural heritage Considered among China’s largest hubs for the exhibition and destruction, formed an ‘art advocacy group’ called Thinking ship with their industrial past. Indeed, commercialisation of contemporary art (covering approximately Hands (sixiang shou), which aimed at raising awareness of the 1.300 square kilometres), the 798 Dashanzi Factory (originally area’s potential destruction and promoted its dedication as European countries have a common history named 718) was founded in the 1950s in the district of Chaoyang a place for art expression. (North-East Beijing) to produce electronic components for the of industrialisation that proceeded at military. At the end of the 1980s it was gradually dismantled as Protest a consequence of the wave of deindustrialisation that followed One of the main reasons for the activism behind 798 was to a relatively homogenous pace. Moreover, Deng Xiaoping’s reform period. At a stage of semi-abandonment, impede the destruction of such an important historical site, for towards the end of the 1990s, the government-appointed owners its cultural and symbolic value in Chinese recent history. As one industrialisation is now a relatively pleasant of the factory, the Seven Stars Group (SSG), decided to rent out of their fi rst protest acts, the artist community established an the empty spaces in order to collect money to pay the laid-off International Dashanzi Art Festival. Subsequently, a book titled memory because the technological advance- workers’ pensions. Coincidentally, the Central Academy of Fine Beijing 798, edited by Huang Rui and Robert Barnell6 – members Arts (CAFA) in Beijing was looking for large spaces to rent in of the community as well as activists committed to the 798 ments it brought about have made many order to hold sculpture workshops; the factory caught the CAFA’s cause – was published to stress the importance of the area’s attention, not only because of the large space and low prices, architecture, history and artistic production. A counter-off ensive countries – the UK, for example – very but also because of the aesthetic value of the abandoned factory was presented by the Seven Stars group in 2004 when, together buildings. After the CAFA later left to its new offi cial location, with the local government, they realised that the protest might proud of their industrial past and willing to it was replaced by an impressive number of artists who decided become a serious obstacle for their urban development plans. to install their studios there, and who formed an artist village. They started increasing rental prices and renting the venues to considerate it part of their national heritage. The industrial complex, which had formerly been split into new tenants, to foreigners and to cultural-related organisations, smaller and more manageable units, now saw the merging of in order to hinder the activities within the artist village. A year For the countries included by UNESCO fi ve of its six establishments under the name Seven Stars Science later, in a fi nal attempt to protect the art villagers from eviction and Technology Co. Ltd. (also Seven Stars Group - SSG), one of and to save the buildings from demolition, the local artists’ 2 in the Asia-Pacifi c region, however, the fi rst high-tech companies in Beijing. In this context a greater organisation supported by Li Xiangqun, a local sculptor and role was being given by the government to fi nancial institutions, Tsinghua University professor elected to the People’s Congress this is not always the case. real-estate developers and individuals. In Beijing, a new ring of in 2004, fi led a proposal to the local government to turn 798 into buildings developed by this wave of urban redevelopment came an art district. The crucial element that helped them in attaining Giulia Di Pietro to be added to existing assets that followed a concentric pattern their goal and preserving the 798 was the introduction, in the around the city centre; from pre-1949 traditional buildings to same period, of ‘creative industries’ policies. socialist buildings developed by the Maoist government. Although redevelopment of dilapidated neighbourhoods and rural land for Creative industries housing and business, on the one hand meant that people could When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, its ad- improve their living conditions, on the other it also limited their ministration of culture came to involve the idea of ‘creativity as a improvement, because after redevelopment house prices were source of innovation’. Scholars and important offi cial fi gures, such raised and, as the process of gentrifi cation generally implies, parts as Li Wuwei,7 became inspired by the ‘creative industries’ policies, of the population (mainly the lower classes) were pushed to the promoted in 1998 by the British Department for Culture, Media outskirts of the city due to fi nancial constraints. As a consequence, and Sports (DCMS) at the end of the 1990s, and praised them as the process of urban redevelopment has mostly facilitated the emblems of the new ‘creative’ path China was undertaking. Michael Above: External sign at the main entrance of the Art Zone. upper-middle classes in the purchasing of housing. Keane stated that China has a ‘creative complex’ – compared to The Newsletter | No.69 | Autumn 2014 The Focus | 25 adoption of creative industries policies other countries – because of its manufacturing role in the global markets and that the adoption of creative industries in China might be a consequence of this and a way to achieve the same innovation levels as other leading global powers.8 Indeed, this strategy takes inspiration from John Howkins’ theory of ‘the creative economy’,9 which sees intellectual property as an element on which countries can capitalise and base their development strategies. His theory is complemented by Michael Porter’s theories concerning the idea of ‘clustering’ – intended as a spatial agglomeration of firms doing business in compatible fields, as a competitive strategy for concentrating and improving creation of wealth in specific areas10 – and the ideas of Richard Florida with regards to the ‘creative city’, assuming that currently there is a tendency that can be observed in the ‘creative sector’ of clustering in cities that favour the three Ts (talent, technology and tolerance).11 This issue of ‘clustering’ has been widely debated among scholars who dismiss its assumptions as a neoliberalist way of dealing with the issue of creativity in relation to cultural policy and economic development12 and of facilitating the gentrification of degraded urban areas and neighbourhoods.13 14 In ideological terms, these policies were aimed at reversing the image of China as a manufacturing country, one that imported ideas and ‘copied’ from the West, into a producer of innovation and lifestyle. In practical terms, the promotion of the creative industries also involved benefits such as a tax reduction of 15-20%, residence subsides for talents up to 20% and free advertisement for those who embraced them. By the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen had already embraced the creative industries as a local development

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